Aeroplane



H. A. JOHNSON.

AEROPLANE.

APLlCATlON FILED JULY 27.1911.

l ,31 0,344, Patented July 15, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

H. A. JOHNSON.

AEROPLANE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 27; 19H- I 1,310,344 Patented July 10, 1919.

a sHEETssHEET 2.

Witnesses H. A. JOHNSON. AEROPLANE.

. Y APPLICATION FILED JULY 27. l9l7 1,310,344 Patented July 10, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- HUTSON A. JOHNSON, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

AEROPLANE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 15, rare.

Application filed July 27, 1917. Serial No. 183,109.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HU'rsoN A. JOHNSON, a British subject, and a citizenof the British Vest Indies, residing at Brooklyn, in

the county of Kings and State of New York,

have imented certain new and useful Improvements, in, Aeroplanes, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to aeroplanes.

The 'object of the invention, generally stated, is to eliminate, so faras is possible, all danger of an aeroplane turning turtle, and thusbecomin unmanageable, with attendant fatal resu ts; or of the machinebecoming incapable of progression and thus of control, by the failure,or so-called balking, of a motor or engine to work, casualties from thelatter having heretofore been somewhat under the control of theoperator, as by volplaning, the machine may be safely brought to theground, as has been demonstrated in many instances, but this latterprocedure is hazardous and not at all certain of safe-guarding humanlife.

A feature of the greatest importance in the art of aeroplanemanipulation, aside from the certainty of the operation of its motor andthe stability of the structure as a whole, to withstand the distortingand skewing influences of contrary wind currents, is that the propellersshall have sulficient power to overcome wind currents, dead air wellsand air vortices that-would tend to negative the power of the propellersas ascensional or propelling forces, or of the wings or planes asbuoyant supporters; and

'to assure the propulsion of the machine in a predetermined course, solong as a propelling force capable of combating and overcomin acontending agent shall be present. fiy this is meant that, for example,under-ordinary conditions, and with an aeroplane of the recognizedconstruction, a distorting force that would result in the inevitabledisabling or destruction of a inachine, may successfully be coinbated,and in such manner that instead of the machine falling to the earth, itwill receive added altitude conditions. These have proven practicallyfutile, as can easily be demonstrated by a review of air casualtiessince the advent of heavier-than-air machines.

Now if an aeroplane can be so constructed that its propuls1on can beassured under all but the most extraordinary conditions, and.

its stability as to resistance against inversion be practically insured,it will be seen that the two greatest factors militating against theaeroplane of today will have been elmin-ated. The objections noted areovercome in the present'invention.

, With the above and other objects in view, as will appear as the natureof the invention is better understood, the same consists, generallystated, in an aeroplane, of any preferred type, embodying, in additionto any improvements as to structural arrangement of the frame and itscomponent parts, a novel arrangement of propellers, and means wherebythe latter may be always under the control of the operator, whereby inthe event of failure of the main propeller-motor to work, auxiliaryvmotors employed for driving supplemental propellers may be brought intoaction.

Generally stated, the invention resides in the employment of threepropellers, three motors, and three clutches, the latter controlling theoperation of the motors in such manner that any one or two of the motorsg-may be rendered effective to the exclusion of another. The main orforward propeller is. driven by a motor which, through the intermediaryof a supplemental shaft, gears, sprocket wheels and chains, drives twopropellers arranged abaft, one to port and one to starboard, each of thelatter propellers being coupled up with an independent clutch controlled"motor. Under ordinary conditions all three of the propellers 'aredriven from the main or forward propeller motor, but in the event thatthe latter should balk, it may instantly be thrown out of drivingconnection with its shaft, and either or both of the aft motors bebrought into operation, thereby insuring the continuous driving of theforward propeller. The supplemental drive shaft that is actuatedinitially from the main motor transmits motion directly to one of theaft propeller shafts, say the port, through the medium of a sprocketchain, and to the other aft propeller shaftthrough a gear wheel mountedon the supplemental drive shaft and meshing with a of two propellersdriven from a single motor, that provision is made for the effectiveoperation of three propellers, all of which are capable at all times ofbeing positively driven, as the possibility of all three motors becomingdisabled at one time is a contingency too remote to be considered. Theemployment of port and starboard propellers, driven in the mannerstated, will have the effect of adding such propulsivepower to themachine as to render it capable to resist the deviating effects of aircurrents, and also of remaining in the air for a period only determinedby its fuel supply. while the danger attending an encounter with an airhole is practically overcome.

Further and more specific details of construction will hereinafter befully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification. andin which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts:

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of an aeroplane embodying the featuresof the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view.

Fig. 3 is a view in longitudinal section.

v Fig. 4 is a view in the nature of a diagrammatical sectional view,exhibiting the arrangement of mechanism for driving the aft propellersfrom the main propeller taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3 looking in thedirection of the arrow..

Fig. 5 is a view in side elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 4.

Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views ofthe clutch mechanism for controllingthe various motors.

Fig. 8 is a detailed view illustrating the clutch member used on thecentral shaft.

Referring to the drawings, A designates generally the body or cabin ofthe machine, B the wings, C the rudder, and D the ground wheels; and asthese parts may beof the usual or any preferred construction, and do notspecifically enter into the invention, further description is deemedunnecessary.

The novelty of the invention, as above pointed out, resides in the novelarrange-- ment of the propelling mechanism now to be described.

Arranged at the front of the body is the main propeller 1 which iscarried by a shaft 2 mounted in suitable bearings 3 within the body.This shaft is driven by a motor 4,

of any preferred type that is splined on the shaft and rigidly securedto it and has combined with it a clutch member 5, the clutch used beingany well known clutch employed to throw either or any of the motors intooperation, with which is operatively connected a jointed lever, onemember 6 of which is pivoted at 7 to a fixed part of the frame of themachine and carries at one end the usual yoke 8 that straddles theclutch member 5, the other end of the member 6 having pivoted to it oneend of a second member 9, the other end of which is pivoted to anoperating lever 10 carried by a fixed part of the frame and by which theclutch is shifted on the motor shaft, the latter being provided withthree longitudinal channels (not shown) to be engaged by three lugs 8'carried by the clutch member. As the same, or'substantially the samearrangement of motion shifting mechanism is emploved in connection withthe aft motors, a description of one will serwe for all. a

The shaft 2 has rigidly secured to it a sprocket wheel 11, and engagingthis sprocket is a sprocket chain 13 that passes,

wheel around a sprocket wheel 14 carried by one end of a supplementaldrix e shaft 15 mounted in bearings carried by hangers 16 depending fromthe frame of the body. The other end of the shaft 15 carries a sprocketwheel 17 forward of which is mounted a gear wheel 18 which latter mesheswith a gear wheel 19 carried by a stub shaft 20 mounted in suitablebearings on the frame, the stub shaft also mounting a sprocket wheel 21,as clearly shown in Fig. 5. The sprocket wheel 17 is engaged by asprocket chain 22 thatpasses around a sprocket wheel 23 carried by theport propeller shaft 24 while the sprocket wheel 21 is engaged by asprocket chain 25 that passes around a sprocket wheel 26 carried by thestarboard propeller shaft 27 By this arrangement it will be seen that byreason of the gears 18 and 19, when the shaft 15 is rotated from themotor 4, the shafts 24 and 27 will be driven in opposite directions, inthe manner common to all two-pro-. peller machines. 4

Each of the shafts 24 and 27 carries at one end a motor 28 and 29respectively, at its other end a propeller 30 and 31 respectively, andadjacent to the motor a clutch member 32 and 33 respectively, the latterengaging complemental clutch members 34 and 35 on the motors 28 and 29,the two clutch members operating in the same manner as that employed inconnection with the forward motor.

In operation, and under normal condil tions, the clutch member 5 oftheforward propeller shaft will be in engagement with the correspondingclutch member 36 of the motor, while those of the port and starboardpropeller shafts will be disengaged, thus causing the main motor 4 todrive the series of propellers. Now should the motor 4 balk or becomeinoperative from any cause, it can be disconnected from its shaft byshifting the clutch member 5, and at the same time the motors of eitheror both of the shafts 24 and 27 can be engaged, thus to continue thedriving of the forward propeller through the agency of the interposedarrangement of sprocket wheels and chains,

gears and shafts heretofore fully described.

It will be seen from the foregoing that provision is made to meet anmotor contingency that might arise, so t at the maximum of safety inaerial navigation is obtained without greatly increasing the cost ofproduction of the machine.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. An aeroplane embodying a forward propeller, a starboard and a portpropeller, each propeller being mounted on a shaft, a motor fixed toeach shaft, means for disconnecting each motor from its propeller, and

- transmission mechanism whereby any propeller may be actuated from anymotor.

2. An aeroplane comprising forward, starboard and port propeller shafts,a motor fixed to each shaft and provided with a clutch, a sprocket wheelrigid with each shaft, a supplemental shaft disposed below and inparallelism with the forward propeller shaft, and carrying at itsforward end a sprocket wheel and at its rear end a sprocket wheel and agear, a sprocket chain connecting the sprocket wheel on the forwardpropeller shaft and the forward sprocket wheel on the supplementalshaft, a stub shaft carrying a sprocket wheel and gear meshing with thegear on the supplemental shaft and sprocket chains connecting the sprockboard propeller shafts with the sprocket wheels on the rear of thesupplemental shaft and on the stub shaft.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

HUTSON A. JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL B. RoAonFom), CLov1s M. DASH.

et wheels of the port and star-v

